Well Arsenal ended their unbeaten run of 28 games in all competition in Spain tonight, losing 3-1 to Sevilla. The referee was not great, and gave a free-kick to them that was never a free-kick, and which also resulted in the second goal. Even worse than the referee though, was Philippe Senderos, who single-handedly tried to hand Sevilla the match with clearances and decision of such severe incompetence that he almost made one long for Alex Song. Almost as bad, was Fredi Kanoute, whose finishing was just god-awful. He should have at least scored a brace, if not a hat-trick, and the scoreline really should have been 4-1 or 5-1 to Sevilla.

I suppose there are some "positives" to take from the game, for both sets of fans.

For Sevilla - well they will have restored some pride, and can look forward to being the group winners. They avenged their 3-0 loss in London, and looked once again like the team that was so sensational last season, and are continuing to come out of the shadows of the sad death of Antonio Puerta, and the sudden departure of coach Juande Ramos to Tottenham. Luis Fabiano continued his good form, and Jesus Navas was especially mesmerising towards the latter stages of the game.

And for the Arsenal? Well this was as good a game to lose as any. They've lost in a somewhat meaningless game to one of Europe's best teams. They've lost badly, and it's broken their unbeaten run, but it's without detriment to their progress into the next phase in the Champions League, and it would have had far worse effects in the league. Let's face it - they would have lost sooner or later, and it's better that it happened now so that they can address their shortcomings, rather than later, because there won't be a game this unimportant for a while.

Also, let's also take into account the fact that they played with three second choice defenders - Hoyte was average, Senderos awful, and Traore lost (but promising), and three second choice midfielders - Denilson was OK but ineffective, Gilberto was OK but made scary errors, and Eboue was exciting but wildly wasteful. And upfront, they were missing first choices Adebayor and Van Persie, with Nicklas Bendtner and Eduardo making their first starts in this competition. Eduardo was somewhat wasted out on the left, but did well for his goal, which was set up by the young Dane Bendtner.

So a side shorn of their top scoring strikers (Ade and RvP), captain (Gallas), most influential ball winner (Flamini) and most influential attacking midfielder (Hleb) lost to a full-strength Sevilla side.

It's not the end of the world. 

The first goal, scored by Eduardo. A cracker after good work by Bendtner, who had a good game without being too effective:

Second goal, again by Eduardo, and a great pass from the youngster Kieran Gibbs. Some of you might remember him from the Emirates Cup where he played very well against Inter Milan. He was on the wing in that game, and Arsene Wenger described him afterwards as a "mini Ryan Giggs". Well, on Wednesday he played at left-back and gave a good account of himself, even though he is primarily an attacking player. Just goes to show the "total football" philosophy that is running through the club at the moment:

As for the third goal, well Denilson had a pop from long range, and it went in via a slight deflection from the defender, although enough to deceive the 'keeper. Denilson had a fantastic game, and this was a great reward for him:

Other honourable mentions go to Theo Walcott, who looks much more confident, and hit the post, and Lassana Diarra, who looks a fearsome prospect (although he hung on to the ball a bit more than he needed do, but he was probably just trying to impress).